Sonnet 18 & Sonnet 130 by W. Shakespeare

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Sonnets (part 1)

Sonnets originated in Italy, where they were used to impress potential lovers. People of the well-to-do classes, especially the nobility, would write and send each other sonnets.

There are two main types of sonnets: the Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or English) sonnet.

Both types have 14 lines in total, but the lines are structured differently. The Petrachan sonnet has two stanzas: one consisting of eight lines (an octave) and another consisting of six lines (a sestet).

The Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, has four stanzas. The first three stanzas have four lines each (quatrains), while the last stanza only consist of two lines (a couplet).

Sonnets (part 2)

The rhyme scheme

The Patrachan sonnet: abbaabba, cdecde.

The Shakespearean sonnet: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Though Shakespeare was not the first to write a Shakespearean sonnet, he was the most renowned one, and therefore, the sonnet was named after him.

The "volta," or "turn," is the moment in a sonnet where the poem's thought or argument shifts.  

The "volta," or "turn," is the moment in a sonnet where the poem's thought or argument shifts, often indicated by a word like "but" or "yet". In a Petrarchan sonnet, it typically occurs between the eighth and ninth lines (between the octave and sestet). In a Shakespearean sonnet, it generally appears before the final couplet, often after the third quatrain (before lines 11-12 or 12-13). 

Sonnet 18 by W. Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm'd ;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st ;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18 by W. Shakespeare

1. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
   
2. Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
   
3. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
   
4. And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
   
5. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
   
6. And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
   
7. And every fair from fair sometime declines,
   
8. By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm'd ;
   
9. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
   
10. Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st ;
    
11. Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
    
12. When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
    
13.    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
    
14.    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
    

Structure

The Shakesperean sonnet is divided into four stanzas: three quatrains and a couplet. Go through the sonnet and identify the different stanzas. 

The speaker's lover is more beautiful and pleasant than a summer day. 

Summer's often hot, and it eventually fades into autumn.

But the lover will not fade or die. He will live on through these lines. 

As long as there are people to read these lines, the lover will live on. 

Sonnet 18 by W. Shakespeare

1. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?                     A
2. Thou art more lovely and more temperate:                  B
3. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,         A
4. And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:             B
5. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,                C
6. And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;                    D
7. And every fair from fair sometime declines,                 C
8. By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm'd ; D
9. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,                          E
10. Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st ;                  F
11. Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,      E
12. When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:                  F
13.    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,            G
14.    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.              g

Rhyme scheme

Using the letters a to g, identify the rhyme scheme of the poems. Are they identical?

Sonnet 18 by W. Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm'd ;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st ;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Rhythm

There are many different rhythmic patterns in poetry, but Shakespeare is most famous for iambic pentameter. 

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter is a poetic meter consisting of ten syllables per line, with five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, creating a rhythmic pattern of five "iambs" (unstressed-stressed syllables). The rhythm is often described as "da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM," similar to a heartbeat, and is commonly used in English verse and drama, particularly in Shakespeare's works

Why Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter? 

Poetic devices - allusion

• Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" contains allusions to the proverb "as good as one shall see in a summer's day" and the Bible's Psalm 23. 
• Biblical allusion. Psalm 23: In line 11, the sonnet states that "Nor will death brag thou wander'st in his shade," alluding to Psalm 23 where the speaker walks "through the valley of the shadow of death". Shakespeare suggests his beloved's beauty will not be claimed by death, as the poem itself grants immortality. 

Allusion

A reference or suggestion to a historical or well-known person, place or thing. 

Proverb:  "as good as one shall see in a summer's day" means that something is considered the peak of beauty, as summer is a time of beauty and pleasantness

A psalm is a sacred song or poem, often praising or lamenting God, originating from the biblical Book of Psalms. The word comes from the Greek word psalmos, which means "a song sung to the harp"

Poetic devices 

• Anaphora
• Assonance                   
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Simile

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together. 

Sonnet 130 

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red, than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white, 

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound: 10

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads7 ont the ground.

      And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare

      As any she belied8 with false compare.

What is Shakespeare's message in this sonnet?